Die Offenbarung Johannis – Eine astronomisch-historische Untersuchung (English: The Revelation to John - An astronomic historical Investigation) is the title of the German edition of the 1905 book by the Russian astronomer Nikolai Alexandrovich Morozov.
Contents
In the month of March in 1907 the Russian astronomer Nikolai Alexandrovich Morozov published the book Revelation within Thunderstorm and Tempest. History of the Apocalypses Origin. (After an intervention of the Orthodox clergy, the book was placed on the index of prohibited books in the following year.) In his book Morozov makes the case that the Book of Revelation is describing the astronomical constellation over the island of Patmos on Sunday, September 30, 395 (Julian date). Morozov presumes that the highly educated John was able to calculate the Saros cycle and, therefore, did observe the sky on this day in attendance of a solar eclipse. (This eclipse did occur indeed - over South America, however).
Morozov's claims
1. The weekday of the event is named explicitly:
2. The description of the skies starts quite systematically at the pole with a constellation named Throne (today: Ursa Minor):
3. The text continues mentioning the Milky Way and the signs of the zodiac denoting the four seasons: Lion, Taurus, Sagittarius and Eagle (today: Aquarius):
4. The four horses were interpreted by Morozov as traditional metaphors for the planets Jupiter, Mars, Mercury and Saturn. The constellations Sagittarius, Perseus, Libra and Scorpion were sitting on them:
5. Sun and Moon were named explicitly. The only female character within the zodiac is Virgo:
6. As a Harlot, the planet Venus will be blamed, eventually. Venus, the symbol of female eroticism, united with the red star Antares (Anti-Mars) within the constellation Scorpion:
The description within the Book of Revelation matches exactly the Constellation for the Julian date 30-9-395.
Right ascension and Declination for the island of Patmos at 15:00 UTC on this day were calculated using the program Yoursky. (Due to precession R.A. of the stars has been shifted since 395).
Sun, Moon and the 3 outer and 2 inner planets will produce 3.732.480 combinations within the 12 signs of the zodiac (125 × 5 × 3). Therefore, an accidental match is quite unlikely.
At this point criticism on Chronology begins: Common understanding says, referring to Irenaeus (Haer. V,30,3), that the Revelation to John has been written down near the end of the reign of the Roman emperor Domitian (81-96). Consequently, either the Revelation has been dated some three centuries too old, or the reign of Domitian has. Unless of course real prophecy was going on and the constellations of 30th Sept 395 were predicted in it. Such confirmation by astronomy may have contributed to its acceptance as canonical.